2.5

For some reason (probably my general lack of any literary education), I labored for years under the false assumption that Candide was a philosophical work rather than a novel. Imagine my surprise when I finally cracked it open to find that it is not a collection of essays or a treatise, but a whimsical little irreverent novel that pokes fun at religion, philosophy, politics, and just about every other endeavor humanity has decided to ascribe with significance. I was delighted I always take my philosophy lessons in black comedy and gallows humor when I can get it.

Candide is a naive and straightforward German youth who has taken to heart everything his good philosophy tutor Pangloss. Pangloss’s theory about the universe is a simple one. This is the only world that have ever existed and every event that seems wholly negative can be seen to have some positive effect somewhere, so everything that happens in this world happens for a good reason and is really the best thing that could have happened. This ideology strikes me as a sort of optimistic reversal of the pessimistic reactionary nature of stoicism. It also reminds me of the terrible hallmark-card responses Christians and the like give to those who are grieving. “All things work together for good.” After Candide is thrown out of his home and sent globetrotting across increasingly wild and hostile lands, he slowly begins to wonder at the possible cracks in this theory.

Candide gets into just about every kind of scrape one could come up with. He is conscripted, beaten, enslaved, flogged, nearly cooked by cannibals, arrested by inquisitors, and robbed again and again and again. Apart from his desire to be reunited with his youthful lover, he cares nothing for these experiences apart from discussing them philosophically with any deep thinker he can find. He travels across Europe, to South America, discovers the fabled land of El Dorado, and comes across the sea once more. He commits a handful of murders in a sort of aloof, accidental self-defense and finds that the people whom he cares for keep popping up alive once more when he is sure they have been murdered or executed.

I was reminded of a lot of other authors as I read this. Candide feels like Molière or Oscar Wilde writing Pickwick. Or like Kurt Vonnegut retelling Don Quixote. It is silly and fast and done with such a light touch that the author seems almost to have written it without any conviction. It feels like Voltaire is telling bedtime stories and fables in which he hopes to shock his audience with how cruel the world is and how unaffected humanity is by it, both as participants and as philosophers trying to decipher what this existence is really all about.

Poor Candide. His privileged life comes to an abrupt end when circumstances change. Candide is confronted with starvation, battles & thieves. Calamity seemed to follow him everywhere. Through it all, he tries to remain optimistic based on his tutor's claim that things happen for the best. The writing was so well done. Who would have thought starvation, battles & thieves could be funny?

I want to add that the audio was narrated by Jack Davenport. He did a fabulous job with the voices and accents. I would love it if he did more narration.

Candide revels in simplicity. It's like a new song, not quite sure whether you like it, but given some time one suddenly realizes it's a masterpiece. I must read Voltaire again.

First time I had read Voltaire and I enjoyed it greatly. A great read as well as being full of important philosophical insight.

A fun re-read since I had forgotten most of it after reading for high school. Funnier, but also more bleak than I remembered. I liked how characters kept showing up in ridiculous ways so you never knew if someone was really dead. Voltaire argues pretty strongly against the idea that this is the best of all possible worlds and that everything goes as best it could. His discouragement of esoteric philosophical debates was like a repeat of Epictetus, and I agree it seems best to not get distracted by some things and focus on 'cultivating your garden' instead.

Candide certainly doesn't read like modern fiction, and the satire was so over the top it made the plot difficult to take seriously, but that didn't interfere with my enjoyment of the book.

The ending was a pleasant surprise. After page upon page of cynicism, I truly didn't expect Voltaire to offer advice regarding how to live a happier life, and I was particularly surprised that it was what I would call quite good advice. I don't know much about Voltaire, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that he studied Zen or Taoism at some point.

Perhaps one of the oddest books I've ever read... it was so difficult to follow at times because of its oddities and quite surprised me as to how difficult the nonsense could be to follow. But, I did enjoy it. It's part of my X-Many-Classics-A-Year-Reads --- and my darling mother recommended this to me.

If you're looking for a different read, something out of the normal this would be it [plus..classic! You can boast about having read french lit!]

Aku baca versi Indonesia, tapi karena aku gabisa akses Goodread web, jadi aku tulis review di sini dulu aja. Ntar2 kalo ada rejeki waktu, ku-update lagi.

Jadi gini. Aku, dan kapasitas literasiku yang dangkal ini baru mengecap sekelumit aja karya-karya yg terlabeli sebagai 'klasik'.

Kebetulan, dalam minggu yabg sama dengan minggu dimana kubaca buku ini, aku baca Litte Women sebelumnya. Jadi agak susah untuk tidak membanding-bandingkan mereka, meski harusnya dua karya itu tidak dibanding-bandingkan. Tapi, karena aku yakin pembaca LW lebih banyak ya, aku rasa dia bisa jadi benchmark untuk amatiran macamku.

Bagiku, LW seperti nasi goreng depot Slamet yang seporsi bisa dimakan bertiga. Enak? Ya enak. Tapi itu nasi goreng, ya gitu itu rasanya. Lagipula kalo kamu makan sebanyak itu sendirian pasti nyampe separuh udah bosen.

Sementara, Candide ini seperti lodeh kothok iwak pe asap yang nuendang, kuentel. Yang masing-masing bumbunya minta unjuk rasa dan makan sesendok kuah aja rasanya kayak perang di mulutmu. Saking padat dan kentelnya, sampe kepikir buat ngencerin pake air panas. Tapi ya gimana-gimana, ini lodeh. Tidak semua lidah suka lode apalagi yang rasa dan teksturnya kayak gini.

Saking 'kuat'nya Candide dan saking sederhananya dia, bahkan orang yang gak paham filsafat pun akan ngos-ngosan. Ngos-ngosan karena dengan pemahaman dangkal pun, orang yang baca bisa dipaksa mikir. Akhirnya mau gak mau akan mikir.

Porsi guyonan, satir dan sarkasnya wow. Untungnya, porsinya dia pas. Hanya 100an halaman. Ga sampe 200 halaman. Coba buku ini tebel, aku pasti langsung nggeblak. Lodeh bersantan kental gaboleh banyak-banyak. Kolesterol tinggi.

5/5 untuk Candide. Gila. Aku akan cari lagi dan baca lagi sastra klasik yang modelan kaya gini.

I first read Candide at a much younger age, and found its historic specificity and extreme satire to be rather dated. What a difference a few years makes! Now on re-reading it well into my adult years, the universal themes are clearer, and the biting satire more on point.

As a philosophical fable, Candide stands the test of time, and manages to speak clearly even in translation a couple of centuries after it was first published. Quite an accomplishment for a slim volume with a fast-moving plot and thinly-developed characters!